after a late breakfast of yogurt and granola, i went to star market to spend a $10 american express rebate gift card. i hate gift cards like these because it's hard to spend exactly $10. couldn't i overspend and pay the difference in cash? maybe, but i'm afraid it might be too complicated a procedure for the average cashier. the best things to buy if i want to spend exactly $10 would be groceries, since there are no taxes so as long as everything adds up to $10 i'm fine. just so happens star market was having a 4/$10 sale on stouffer's frozen dinners. i was afraid the gift card wouldn't work but it went through as a credit card transaction, no problem.
i biked to belmont in the afternoon to continue cleaning up the house: 60% vacuuming, 30% organizing, and 10% throwing away stuff. nobody was home except the dog. my sister promised to clean but there wasn't any progress since yesterday. when my mother came home a few hours later we focused on the computer room and the basement. with less than 24 hours left before all the guests start arriving tomorrow, i'm going to have to come home early and continue cleaning.
i finally left by 4:30, hoping to beat the rush hour traffic. it'd been lightly raining intermittently since i arrived in belmont, and i got caught in a small drizzle on my way home, soaking me up to 30% (mostly in the front), with some mud splatter on my legs. fortunately today was surprisingly warm (70's) so the rain didn't feel too bad.
drew came home around 5:30 with a broken combo cable lock. the locking pin seemed to have snapped off somehow. i ordered another one online a short time later. he reluctantly left soon afterwards to attend an MIT lecture at 6:30 followed by a dinner. as for me, i just heated up a brick of lasagna.